Book

Popular fiction and brain science in the late nineteenth century

Stiles, Anne, 1975-

Overview

\"In the 1860s and 1870s, leading neurologists used animal experimentation to establish that discrete sections of the brain regulate specific mental and physical functions. These discoveries had immediate medical benefits: David Ferrier's detailed cortical maps, for example, saved lives by helping surgeons locate brain tumors and haemorrhages without first opening up the skull. These experiments both incited controversy and stimulated creative thought, because they challenged the possibility of an extra-corporeal soul. This book examines the cultural impact of neurological experiments on late Victorian Gothic romances by Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells and others. Novels like Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde expressed the deep-seated fears and visionary possibilities suggested by cerebral localization research and offered a corrective to the linearity and objectivity of late Victorian neurology\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Subject: Geschichte 1860-1900. / Gothic fiction (Literary genre), English History and criticism. / Neurosciences and the arts. / Brain Research Great Britain History 19th century. / Gothic revival (Literature) Great Britain History 19th century. / Literature and science Great Britain History 19th century. / Literature and medicine Great Britain History 19th century. / Neurosciences Great Britain History 19th century. / Mind and body in literature. / Physiology in literature. / English fiction 19th century History and criticism.
• ISBN: 9781107010017, 1107010012

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
PR878.T3 S75 2012	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE